Learning Extension
The Challenge Program - Gifted and Talented
The Challenge Program at Terrace seeks to meet the individual needs of students with high natural abilities or gifts. It seeks to identify, then engage these students with differentiated and challenging tasks in order to develop these abilities into demonstrable talents.
The program has adopted Gagne's Differentiated Model of Giftedness 2.0 as most suiting the needs of students and the mission of the school. This model explains giftedness as a process, where gifts from four different domains, are transferred into demonstrable talents. The process encompasses teaching, learning and practising during the students’ years at Terrace and explains the influence of both environmental and intrapersonal catalysts. Gagne’s model also links closely to the Dimensions of Learning framework which has been adopted by the College.
As a broad definition a gifted person is someone who has demonstrated, or has the potential for demonstrating, an exceptional level of performance in one or more areas of expression. These areas include intellectual, creative, specific academic or leadership ability or ability in the performing or visual arts. There are various Levels of giftedness which are discussed in this link to the United Kingdom's National Association for Gifted Children.
Some of the characteristics of gifted learners follow:
- often have advanced levels of language development and verbal capacity
- many varied interests and a reservoir of knowledge
- giftedness isn’t always reflected in academic learning and success
- outstanding memory, learns quickly and easily – rapid retrieval
- operates on a higher level of thinking, can analyse, abstract and reason critically
- strongly motivated to do things that interest them - intrinsic motivation. Can be persistent and demanding and will work at a single task for extended periods of time
- not easily programmed externally, for example, conventions of writing and spelling
- uneven development in areas of capacity
- have a level of empathy, maturity and understanding of emotional situation
- have high expectations often striving for perfection
- may prefer to work alone
- generate original ideas and multiple solutions, looks beyond actual situations and infers, goes beyond
- may have a sophisticated sense of humour
